Pressure induced order–disorder transition in a diblock copolymer

Polymers are known to undergo order↔order and order↔disorder transitions, when subjected to a change of pressure, temperature, solvent, pH of the medium etc. The molecular processes, which alter the volume of the system, are found to be highly sensitive to the pressure. In the present communication Zimm and Bragg model of helix↔coil transition has been modified to interpret the experimental data of pressure induced phase transition in polystyrene–polybutadiene [PS–PB] at different pressurization rates, as reported by Migler and Han, utilizing the Birefringence and small angle neutron scattering technique. An expression for the degree of order is obtained from the grand partition function for the entire chain in terms of nucleation parameter, which controls the transition width. The nucleation parameter σ increases with the increase in the ODT temperatures of the system. The phenomenon of hysteresis has been discussed in relation to the pressurization rate, which increases/decreases with the corresponding increase/decrease in the pressurization rate. The theoretical transition curves are found to be in good agreement with experimental data.